KLAS report offers performance report on patient portal offerings

Meaningful use (MU) Stage 2 requirements are driving EMR-specific patient portal adoption but the increase is having a negative effect on best-of-breed vendors because third-party solutions are not as well equipped as EMR offerings for the requirements, according to a report from KLAS.

The report--Patient Portals 2013: On Track for Meaningful Use?--offers details on the performance of each patient portal regarding Stage 2 criteria, including patient engagement, ease of use and support. The report also captures provider feedback on both the current states of the products and areas of future growth.

"The HITECH Act that launched MU Stage 2 is clearly aiding the EMR vendors in this segment," said report author and research director Mark Allphin. "However, there are advantages to looking outside your EMR. Many providers are still trying to determine which portal solution will best meet their needs, now and in the future as they continue to engage their patients on a deeper level."

As part of the study, KLAS spoke with over 200 providers about their patient portals. KLAS collected data on Allscripts (Jardogs), athenahealth, Cerner, eClinicalWorks, Epic, Greenway Medical, Intuit Health, NextGen and Vitera.